Headteacher's Blog #34

This week has been a whirlwind of action at the school; we have had our first on site sports day for 25 years and a new parent evening and moving up day for next year's year 7s. It was great to see a sports day on home soil, and I was very proud of the way that our young people behaved and competed for their houses. We have started a new tradition, and I am excited to see it develop. I want our young people to have pride in place, to be proud of themselves, their school and their community. In an increasingly atomised and individual world, community and pride in place is essential, that is why sports day belongs on our sports fields and why all of our new 7s, in their kaleidoscopic primary school uniforms, instantly became citizens of LSA this week. It will be exciting to see them flourish and develop pride in themselves and pride in being LSA.

I'd like to thank parents for their increasing support with good school attendance in the last two weeks. Our attendance last week, during the heat wave, was above northwest and national averages, and this demonstrated the increased resilience of our school community. I sent a blog in October decrying weak attendance at the school, so it is very important that I thank you all for its improvement. I am passionate about school attendance, not because I am interested in Ofsted inspection, but because schools are a civilising force and when they work in partnership with parents, transform lives and futures. Thank you all for your support, please continue this on Monday, even if they are bleary eyed following the latest instalment of the England football team's perennial psycho drama. Have a restful weekend.